Session #20

Present for today's session were: Aeoth the Paladin, Valian the Rogue, and Fradd the Rogue

What an absolutely crazy session.  I've never played D&D like this before.  I'm used to starting off my sessions not knowing what the players are going to do.  When I prepped for this week session, I reworked my random encounters table for the sewers, and figuring out what is happening with the Stone of Golor.

And so, as result of my NPCs downtime, this session started off with Joey Falcone--one of the Paladin's contacts--staggering into Barrelriders with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder.  Joey came with an offer for the PCs--he said his boss wanted to sell them the "Olamn Harp" a legendary musical instrument that was stolen from the College of Olamn earlier this year.  He also told them that his employer would sell the item (normally valued at upwards of 50K) to the party for 35K, if they would deal with pirates who were attacking ships on the trade route between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate/Amn.  The party was more interested in who had just shot him--he told them it was a dwarf named Noska Urgray, who was an enforcer for the Xanathar Guild.  This raised further questions, because the last time the party met Joey Falcone, he was an enforced for the Xanathar Guild.  Specifically, the party asked him several times to disclose the identity of his new employer.  Joey told them he couldn't disclose that information, and asked if he could take sanctuary under the paladin's protection for a day while the heat from the Xanathar's guild blew over.  The party agreed, and told Joey to tell his employer they might be willing to work with him, but they would have to know who they're signing up to work for.  Joey told them he'd pass that information along, and come back next week with his employer's response.  After the party stashed Joey in their hideout, Noska Urgray stopped in, tried to get information from the PCs and gave up when it seemed to him that they didn't know anything.

The players discussed this new information, and quest from a mysterious patron--but decided they weren't equipped to go pirate hunting, and the specific characters in today's session weren't really interested in recovering the Harp of Olamn anyways (Gwydion the Bard has been trying to track it down for sometime).

At this point, the players decided that since it looked like Gwydion wasn't going to make it for tonight's session, they would take a shot at two hooks they had put on the back burner from a few months ago.  Probably 5 or 6 sessions ago, the party spent their downtime trying to find a high-end magic-item salesman--which attracted the attention of a traveling Rakshasha merchant based out of Sigil.  During that session, Valian commissioned a mask of darkvision from the Rakshasha, but the Rakshasha was a bit upset because they didn't buy any rare items from him.  So he told them they would have to come pick it up in Sigil, and gave them a gatekey and directions.

Around the same time, the paladin found a cursed sword in Undermountain (the very same sword that got a PC killed all the way back in session #1), and spent his downtime trying to figure out how to uncurse the sword.  The sage at the Waterdeep Church of St. Cuthbert, told him that this sword was originally made in Arcadia, at the Bastion of St. Cuthbert, and the only way to purify the sword was to take it there.  Based on this information, the Waterdeep Church recommended that the Paladin turn the sword over to them to be destroyed.  But the Paladin decided he would rather hold on to it, and try to figure out how to get it to the Bastion of St. Cuthbert instead.

So the party decided that they would just take the gatekey and head to Sigil.  The gatekey came with directions--which they hadn't previously examined--which told them to insert the key (which was shaped like a key stone) in the arch of a mausoleum in the City of the Dead in Waterdeep.  This led them to the Mortuary in Sigil (which is where the Planescape video game starts).  They spent about a half-an-hour exploring the Mortuary--getting really frustrated with the Dustmen--when fortunately they found that their gatekey opened a door back to Waterdeep nearby within the Mortuary.

At this point, feeling secure in the knowledge that they weren't stuck in Sigil, the party set off across town to the Grand Bazaar, where they met up with Rashid (the Rakshasha).  He showed the party a lot of different magic items, but unfortunately the party didn't have the cash on hand to buy much.  Rashid kept trying to sell them a Folding Boat ("think about the good times you can have with this thing"), and gauntlets of ogre power ("these gauntlets aren't just good for fighting; THEY're good for LIFE--think of how many more women you will attract my friend with the raw animal magnetism of increased strength")

Roleplaying out this shopping trip took about an hour.  And it was fun, but I'm going to be completely honest, at this point, I was wondering if the players would get any XP this session at all.  By the end of all the haggling, the party had agreed to sell two magic items, and pay 8,200 gold for a sun blade, and for the Rakshasha to travel with them to Excelsior (the gate town leading to Arcadia).

We then took a break for about 15-20 minutes--during which time I came up with a very rough-and-dirty encounter table for the Outlands.  After the break, and with the help of Rashid, the party started overland travelling through the Outlands.  The first day they saw a blue dragon in the distance.  The second day of travel, they encountered a group of Thri-Kreen, who were not hostile, and the party did not engage in combat.  The third day they had two encounters.  In the morning, they encountered an Efreeti travelling in the opposite direction--with 4 Azer servants.  The Efreeti was interested in attacking, but decided not to risk it.  In the evening, they encountered Korfel Nailo--an Eladrin from one of the upper planes--travelling in roughly the same direction.  Korfel was friendly, and decided to come with the party.  But first, after he introduced himself, he teased them a little bit because he said they were pronouncing the elvish vowels in his name wrong.  The players were a little bit upset, but he laughed it off, telling them that the elvish of even the elves from the mortal world is bad--they mess up the grammar.

On the fourth day, in the afternoon, the party ran into a war-party of Dispater, Duke of Dis--composed of a bone devil (15 HD), 5 bearded devils (8HD), and 7 spined devils (5HD).  With the help of Rashid and Korfel, the party made fairly light work of it--an encounter that would have probably been pretty lethal for them without the extra help.  The war-party had a huge amount of loot with them that they were transporting in their warcart--15,000 GP, and 2,100 platinum.  Rashid demanded a cut, but Korfel told them he wasn't interested in taking a share.

In the evening of the fourth day, the party arrived in Excelsior--the gatetown between the Outlands and Arcadia.  Rashid and Korfel bid the party adieu, and Fradd the rogue decided to stay behind in Excelsior while Aeoth and Valian made their way to the Bastion of St. Cuthbert.  Aeoth and Valian located a guide in Excelsior, and set off for the final leg of their trip.  The trip from Excelsior to the Bastion took an additional day--during which there were no encounters.  When they arrived at the Bastion, the paladin and rogue were informed that purifying the weapon would require them to make a vigil of 3 days in the heart of the Bastion.  They decided to wait it out, and the weapon turned out to be a very potent holy avenger.  At this point, the party was on day nine (May 13/ Mirtul 13).  They travelled back to Excelsior (1 day), picked up Fradd, and travelled back across the Outlands to Sigil (4 days).  There was only one encounter on the return journey--a Vrock (11 HD).  But armed with the new holy sword, they made very quick work of the demon.  From Sigil, the party was able to return home safely to Waterdeep.

With all the XP from the warparty and the treasure cart, I think everyone in the party levelled this session.  None of these characters will be available during the next Waterdeep session, because they do not arrive back in Waterdeep until May 18.